Teens A Difficult Target, But Worth the Effort
Today's teens present quite a challenge to marketers:
they're less likely to consume traditional media, they're suspicious of
advertising, media-savvy and have short attention spans. But with
30 million teenagers in the U.S.
estimated to spend $175 billion
dollars a year, they can't be ignored.
While teenagers have always been fickle, today's teens
present some unique challenges. They've grown up online and are likely to
socialize online, using social networks such as MySpace. And while they're
socializing online, they're likely to be simultaneously instant-messaging,
speaking or text-messaging on their cell phones, doing homework and watching
TV. As if that didn't make it hard enough for a marketer to get their
attention, today's teens don't trust advertising and seem to be quite adept
at ignoring it.
Marketers are finding that today's
teens value sincerity and authenticity
and are turned off when they think advertisers are trying to take advantage
of them. That's why Xanga.com, a community of online diaries and journals,
recently turned to its members and asked for their input when advertisers
demanded larger ads, and went with the solution members liked best. That
kind of personal connection is important to teens.
Marketers are considering
options beyond traditional advertising,
such as sponsorships and giveaways. For example, Target sponsors a
skateboarding group on social networking site MySpace.com. Disney set up
blogs on Xanga.com to promote a movie. Frito-Lay offered free music
downloads with purchases of Doritos. These attempts are not without
pitfalls, though. When P&G
tried to set up a social networking site around its Sparkle Body Spray
(featuring chatty messages from fake characters), no one was interested.
When Sony used ads that looked like graffiti to promote their PSP portable
Playstations, there was a backlash. But at least they're trying! These
companies are learning a great deal about the teen market through their
efforts, and building upon them.
How can you learn
more about your teen prospects? We recommend considering
alternative forms of market research. For example, teens respond well to
video-conferencing focus groups: they feel more comfortable expressing
themselves openly since they're participating from home, and the combination
of phone call, web surfing and online chat is familiar to them. Consider
incorporating blogs, photo diaries (teens can use their cell phones for
this) and even text messaging as part of your research design.
Give us a call at (818) 752-7210 to discuss
how best to design research for your target market.
Sources:
"The MySpace Generation," BusinessWeek, 12/12/05;
"From Teen Fashion to Hershey Kisses: New Ways to Sell the Brand,"
Knowledge@Wharton, 12/14/05-1/10/06; "What Looks Like Graffiti Could Really
Be an Ad," Washington Post, 12/26/05 |
Sincerely,
Jay Zaltzman, President
Bureau West Marketing & Research
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